OT: Real open cockpit expieriance

[Pappy55 1]

Just wonder if anyone here has had the awesome luck of being able to ride in an old crate?

 

10 years ago when I was 17 visiting relatives in Australia my family brought me a ride in a Tiger Moth.

Frak me nothing can describe the feeling.. seriously

 

The vibration from the engine in you butt, the wind in your face and whisteling through the cables and the creaking struts.

 

If only that feeling coukld be simulated for OFF :P

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Pappy55, my very first flight was as a kid in an old Stearman PT. It was amazing and I have been in love with flying ever since. I've done some open cockpit ultraflight flying now and then over the last few years, and I imagine that has to be pretty darn close to what it was like to fly the early WWI planes.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

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[Rickitycrate 10]

Oh PaPPy it is Possible to simulate that ass vibration. An old rag I've chewed on in the Past is the Video game X Rocker chair. There is also something known as the Butt Kicker that is reviewed here at Combat Ace. There are a number of Products in the U.K.. I did a search for X Rocker Britain and found a lot of relevant links. Have a search. I swear by mine. All that's missing are the G's.

Edited October 24, 2009 by Rickitycrate

[Maxiku 0]

Hi Pappy.

 

I was lucky enough to have an aerobatic flight (Barrel rolls, Loops etc) in a bright yellow 1935 Tiger Moth about 4 years ago.

 

The company was called "Tigerfly" and flew out of Booker airfield in High Wycombe.

The pilot was also the Chief Pilot of the Booker flying school were I was taking my Private Pilots License lessons - so should be easy to track him down if you're looking for another flight.

 

Saying that - The best flight I ever took was an Aerobatic stunt flight in a Pitts Special (Bi-plane) in Australia a few years ago.

It wasn't open cockpit but I was lucky that the Pilot was an ex-Australian champ who decided to use the flight as a practise routine for his next display...Hammerheads, Hi-G Stall turns, inverted dives...It was mind-blowing and bloody hard on the body too...But wow - That was a unique experience.

...Now if that could be truly experienced on a WW1 flight sim (Maybe OFF phase 5?) , then Real-Life would be over for me.....I'd be permanently hooked into the Virtual world of OFF!

Edited October 24, 2009 by Maxiku

[Rickitycrate 10]

I sat in the Pit of a Stearman. Inside the Mall of America. No one around,just me and wife. So I took my time. It was not running of course. The closest I've been tho.

 

PaPPy about that chair, here is an old link, if you are curious http://forum.combatace.com/topic/39843-engine-sounds/page__p__275646entry275646

[carrick58 23]

The oldest aircraft that I got to ride in was an old Terry and the Pirates C-47 tail dragger unless a C-54 complete with oil leaks from the motors when I was down south count. However, I am hopeing to ride in a PT Steerman coming this summer .

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Well...I have never flown in an Open Cockpit..but my favourite experience of flying, was in a Glider when I was in the Air Training Corps...wonderful experience..just like being a Bird

[Stiffy 1]

I flew a 1940s Aironca once with the windows open, not quite the same though... Flown a modern piper warrior a couple of times but was not an open cockpit... i think the thing missing the most isnt the vibration but the huge amount of geforce you feel even from a sudden bank at 90mph, let alone from a hard pull back on the stick.

 

Almost managed to get a go in a 1930s Bucker Yungman biplane once but family lost touch with the owner. I'd love to fly observation in something like an FE, view must be great stuck out at the front.

[Bullethead 12]

Back in my misspent youth, I was a biker and rode a Harley, also known as a "Milwaukee Vibrator" due to the irregular beat of its fork-and-blade V-twin motor (like a pie slice out of a rotary or radial). I eschewed such effeminate crutches as windshields, fairings, and backrests, taking the full bast of the wind in my exposed face and holding myself upright against its pressure. I wore aviator goggles, a leather jacket, and sometimes a scarf. I once had an old knucklehead with a total loss oil system, like with a rotary. I ate a lot of bugs plus the occasional bird and bat, and got pelted many times by rain and hail. When I came home from a ride, my cheeks below my goggles were stained with grime and soot, and I was deaf from the noise of the engine and wind. And sometimes I engaged in combat with 4-wheelers by tossing old sections of drive chain over my shoulder into their windshields, like the 1914 guys dropping bricks on each other. Does that count?

 

The closest I've come to flying open-cockpit, however, was when I was taking lessons in a Traumahawk. It was a very hot, humid summer mid-afternoon (the worst part of the day) in Houston and the plane had been sitting out on the ramp all day with the sun beating in through the bubble canopy. As usual on such days, we didn't close the car-type doors on the cockpit until we were starting our take-off roll.

 

Most times, once we got some airspeed and a few hundred feet of altitude, the outside air blowing straight in through the vents at 75 knots (our sustained climb speed) felt cool enough, but not today. So, about the time we got to 1000 feet, with us about to die of heat stroke, my instructor opened his door. He had to brace it open with both legs against the slipstream, but he managed to get it about 45^ forward. It got bent in the process and never sealed properly after that .

 

Anyway, this expedient did provide some approximation of an open-cockpit experience. Hurricane-force winds swirled around inside the cockpit, creating a vortex of all loose objects inside. These clubbed us brutally a time or two until they got sucked out (and AFAIK didn't land on anything important), but the dirt and grit took longer to dissipate and, not having goggles on, much of this got in our eyes.

 

This, however, was small potatoes compared to the aerodynamic effects. The open door acted like a big air brake, but only on 1 side of the plane. Blinking back tears from the grit in my eyes, I found I could maintain course with lots of rudder, but the drag of both kept us from maintaining altitude. So after a couple of minutes of this, by which time we were down to about 300 feet over a large pine forest, my instructor finally let the door close.

 

Did I mention my instructor was crazy? He was from Amsterdam, so I called him the "Flying Dutchman"....

[CW3SF 0]

Washing planes at Hawthorne Airfield in the general area of SW Los Angeles in the early 50's I got some time in several airplanes. The open cockpit types were the PT-17, PT-19, PT-22, and if you count sliding the window open "Navy Style" the BT-13, and AT-6.

Most of the pilots were WW2 folks and at times we tore the sky up ------ FUN FUN FUN !!!!

 

Of all the planes I flew in my heart is still with the SA-16 "Albatross" that we used during search and rescue ops. It had a hatch in the front that you could open and stand up in ( helpfull in coming into shore to look for hazards).

 

Later the helo's were much better at rescue work--- tho when power was lost the had a steep glide angle.

 

 

[hood 2]

My first flight was in an Avro Trainer in 1938.After the war a few of my mates were ex-Raaf pilots and I put in quite a few hours with them, as passenger of course but with some hours unofficial stick time.They were all total loonies.

[Ras 0]

Took a ride in a Ford Tri Motor late this summer in the co-pilot seat with windows open. It was a warm summer morning and the breeze was hitting me in the face and was able to rest my elbow just like you would if driving a car with the window down. It was out of Blaine, MN at the Golden Wings Museum which has a great bunch of old aircraft. All privately owned by a Greg Herrick, which some may have heard of. This Ford Tri-Motor if I remember correctly was used in a movie that was released this past July. Can't remember the name of it now, but I believe one of the stars was Johnny Depp and it had something to do with Frank Dillinger or Al Capone? THis is the link to the museum if interested.

 

http://www.goldenwingsmuseum.com/

[AROTH 0]

Tiger Moth, Stearman, and a Waco - all 3 about 25 years ago, however, I still vividly recall the experiences as if they were yesterday. What fun!

[Check Six 2]

I booked myself a week at O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse in the Lamington Ranges just south of Brisbane Australia. The reason was to go on one of their rare treks out to the extremely remote gravesite of Reginald Haslem (Rex) Boyden. Rex was the pilot of the famous Stinson that crashed there in 1937.

 

I have been researching Australians who flew for the RNAS in the Great War for some time along with Andrew Smith, and Rex Haslem was one such man.

 

The aircraft was lost in a bad storm and there was no radio on board. Noone really knew if the aircraft flew around the ranges, and headed to its destination, or attempted to turn back, so the search area was massive. Bernard O'Reilly decided he would go looking and some 10 days later found the wreckage. Amazingly, there were two passengers that survived the crash. There was an epic rescue mission, and teams of men hacked their way through the bush to reach the wreckage, and another team started hacking a path from the nearest navigable road towards the crash site.

 

I wanted to pay my respects at Rex's grave (he was killed in the crash, and buried on site), and so booked a holiday there. When I arrived at Coolangatta airport, I saw a brochure to book passenger flights in a Tiger Moth. I visited them, and asked whether a flight over the crash site could be arranged. They agreed, and we took off, flew overhead, and I paid my respects. On the return flight, the pilot asked me if I wanted him to "stunt" the aircraft. Boy, that was easy to answer. We looped, rolled, wingovers...the whole nine yards. This "straight and level" flying is for the birds!

 

Eventually, I was unable to make it out to the crash site. I might return and attempt it at some other time. Anyway, here is a pic of me and the Tiger Moth. (I think it was built in 1935 - unsure though).

 

 

[Duce Lewis 3]

Back in the early 80's my Father and I took a Fly-Ride after 1 of the Rhinebeck shows

It was a1929 New Standard Biplane and there was another Father and his young son

After we strapped our lap belts I looked back at the young lad and he seemed quite worried

I was in the right front holding onto the cowling which was close to my neck

We flew over the Hudson River near the Newbourgh Bridge

The pilot dove slightly then pulled up into a hammerhead (which I thought was a loop)

My thought was "I want shoulder straps, looping w/o shoulderstraps is crazy"

After we pulled out I peeked at the youngster who was grinning from ear to ear

I swear that New Standard still has my fingerprints in it's cowling

Great experience!

[Mr. Lucky 0]

I have a few hours as pilot in the Stearman PT-17 after earning my tailwheel endorsement. To me,it was like flying a heavy Cub with great visibility. Also flew the Piper Cub with the doors open, feeling great. Prior to that and off topic, my father and I, with our radio control club got to visit the U.S. Air Force Museum after hours with volunteers and got to sit in the P-39, P-38, ME262, B17, B24 and a few others. Also was working on a B17E restoration where I worked part time, so spent a lot of time in that cockpit as well as other places in the plane.

[Luftace 0]

As I've mentioned before in some threads, I am a Blackhawk helo crewchief in the US Army. Currently deployed right now, but have just over 500 hours as a 'back-seater', about 400 of which I have aquired over here. Aside from sitting facing sideways on either side, we always have to fly with our windows open due to our MGs on there mounts needing to be at the ready at all times. Sometimes while flying, I certainly do imagine what it would be like to have been doing so in WWI. Part of our job is to spot other air activity to give our pilots a heads-up. The contract foreign pilots flying Russian Mi-8s don't like to make many air-to-air calls for some reason, so we constantly have to keep our heads on a swivel to watch out for those knuckle heads. I have had a few close calls with a few of them I would not like to experience again, lol! When landing, or just checking out a point of interest on the ground, we usually have to hang out the windows for a clear view of the LZ and help call the pilots in safely, always being blasted with anywhere from 30 to 100 knot winds. Did I mention it's really cold the higher you get too? Most of the time my fingers are numb and bright red when I'm done with a flight, especially in the winter months due to having to hold the MG the whole time while flying and the wind constantly biting my fingers through my gloves. Gloves help, but only minimally. I'm a bit of a wimp as it is when it comes to cold having grown up in south Mississippi up until I joined the army, but I can only imagine what it was like for those guys in a completely open cockpit with no heater at all. (We have heat, but does us little good since the windows are always open.) So, being fortunate to have such a neat job, I feel privelaged to be able to say I know pretty well what it would be like to fly in an open cockpit. Hope You find my experiences useful in imagining what it's like if you have yet to have the chance to fly at all.

[Rooster89 0]

 

I swear that New Standard still has my fingerprints in it's cowling

Great experience!

 

Yep, theyre still there Duce, lol. My first ever airplane ride was in that plane. Its a blast when the pilot fires up the engine and thats all you can hear, rumbling down the grass field to take off. Then flying around over the Hudson, wind whistling through the wires and slapping your face. Somehow it just feels right.

 

-Rooster

[Duce Lewis 3]

Its a blast when the pilot fires up the engine and thats all you can hear, rumbling down the grass field to take off. Then flying around over the Hudson, wind whistling through the wires and slapping your face. Somehow it just feels right.

 

-Rooster

Ahh, yer bringin back sweet memories Rooster

I've always said I'd go back and do it again but ...alas never have yet

Just might be better I don't ...probably end up fighting the pilot to see who gets to sit in the rear cockpit

Is there some kind of OFF ID Card I can show em???